Monday, July 30, 2012
Pompeii More Pictures
The beautiful artwork painted on the walls was beautiful. These people had some money. Most people who lived in Pompeii spent their summers here and lived elsewhere.
Long Drive to Beauty Sorrento
Now for the longest drive of the trip 4-5 hours! But you know what, the car is air conditioned, we are not walking our feet off, and we are sitting down, not too shabby. We will take it as a rest period for us. And we are heading south to a beautiful part of Italy along the Mediterranean Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast!
We leave Assisi and head south down local roads which go through small little cute towns which do not sign as well as we need. So we have to stop a couple of times to ask directions and always they are so very helpful to stop what they are doing and point the way. We drive on the Autostrada after we reach it half way to Naples. Travis is driving and he has really gotten into the swing of things. Before he took over Bud also was a great driver on the roads and I took a part in driving in Florence. So we drive on the outskirts of Naples and it looks pretty rough. Lots of poverty and not very nice to look at but we will be back to see if we can find Desigual a Spanish Clothing Store which Travis has discovered and Carleigh loves it to. I actually like the clothes Travis bought so I would like to see it to.
We get down into Sorrento and what I thought was going to be a small little town is huge with lots of people, scooters, motorcycles, and shops and restaurants. But we have a little bit of paradise in our hotel, Hotel Cristina. It is yellow with lots of windows which sits up on the hillside of Sant Angello right next to Sorrento. It overlooks the Bay of Naples and Naples and Mt Vesuvius behind Naples. What a beautiful view we have from our balcony for three nights. It is so incredible! We are on the first floor, the lobby being on floor 0 and the restaurant is on the 5th floor and the swimming pool is on the 6th floor and has the same beautiful view over the town and the Bay.
On the way down we stop at Pompeii and tour the town that was covered in ash and all citizens killed. It was lots bigger than I thought and it was so neat to walk down the cobble streets that they walked and shopped. It was so very hot again, in the 100's so we decided we would not spend two hours going up Mt Vesuvius. Good decision!
We leave Assisi and head south down local roads which go through small little cute towns which do not sign as well as we need. So we have to stop a couple of times to ask directions and always they are so very helpful to stop what they are doing and point the way. We drive on the Autostrada after we reach it half way to Naples. Travis is driving and he has really gotten into the swing of things. Before he took over Bud also was a great driver on the roads and I took a part in driving in Florence. So we drive on the outskirts of Naples and it looks pretty rough. Lots of poverty and not very nice to look at but we will be back to see if we can find Desigual a Spanish Clothing Store which Travis has discovered and Carleigh loves it to. I actually like the clothes Travis bought so I would like to see it to.
We get down into Sorrento and what I thought was going to be a small little town is huge with lots of people, scooters, motorcycles, and shops and restaurants. But we have a little bit of paradise in our hotel, Hotel Cristina. It is yellow with lots of windows which sits up on the hillside of Sant Angello right next to Sorrento. It overlooks the Bay of Naples and Naples and Mt Vesuvius behind Naples. What a beautiful view we have from our balcony for three nights. It is so incredible! We are on the first floor, the lobby being on floor 0 and the restaurant is on the 5th floor and the swimming pool is on the 6th floor and has the same beautiful view over the town and the Bay.
On the way down we stop at Pompeii and tour the town that was covered in ash and all citizens killed. It was lots bigger than I thought and it was so neat to walk down the cobble streets that they walked and shopped. It was so very hot again, in the 100's so we decided we would not spend two hours going up Mt Vesuvius. Good decision!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
St Francis of Assisi
Who was this man St Francis of Assisi? Let me tell you a little about this man. He was rich and became poor. He came from a wealthy family and he could have become a doctor but he became humble and gave up all he had. Why? Because Jesus told him to. St Francis astounded and inspired the church by taking the gospel literally-he actually followed all Jesus said and did, joyfully and without limit and without self importance. As I was walking through the town of Assisi, actually it is all up hill through narrow streets lined with shops, restaurants and houses. But you come to several churches but it is still not the "Basilica of St Francis, no that church, that particular church is way on the top and it is so large and so beautiful and such a view of the countyside, it is incredible! So much that St Francis would probably be very unhappy about it. But it shows the love the people had for him. We were there at 6:40pm and it closed at 6:30pm but the security guard let us in! We were so very happy to see this church. We were let out 10 minutes later but it was ok cause we saw it!!!! The town itself is so clean and every thing is beautiful. One of the prettiest towns in Italy!
St Francis was born in 1181 and dies in 1226. But his spirit lives on in this area of Italy!
Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.-St Francis Assisi
More of Florence
Our hotel room in an old monastery and the view from our window and the pizza we ate right near the Duomo in Florence, the Florentine Boar (if you rub it's snout you will come back to Florence), and just a picture of Florence! Beautiful City!
You may have the Universe if I may have Italy!-Giuseppe Verdi
Florence Full of Art
First of all I have yet to mention the temperature of Italy while we travel. It is between 98 and 106 degrees each day. And it is very humid. It hasn't stopped us but it does make us more tired than we would be in cooler weather. Sometimes I feel that I am the only woman in the crowd that is having a hot flash! Italian women seem to take it is stride and they are still dressed to the nines and look cool and comfortable. I am not sure how they do it, maybe they do not have menopause over here! lol
But I am happy it isn't raining because we get to enjoy the scenery and the beaches and the outside sights. In the evening is so perfect that we get to sit outside and enjoy. The mornings are great also. You know that is why alot of stores and businesses close for the afternoon because it is so hot! Lots of buildings and trains and cars have no air conditioning either. So if you ever take a trip over here make sure you have a hotel that has air! Drink lots of water and stay in the shade as much as possible!
The City of Florence has so much art in their streets in the shape of buildings, statues, sculptures and piazzas. The top picture is the Ponte Vecchio (Bridge Vecchio) and there are shops along both sides of the bridge, they just happened to be closed when we were there :( This bridge is the oldest bridge in Florence. Even the Nazis thought it was so important that they did not blow it up when they were fleeing the city during World War II. We are so glad they left it!
We saw the Palace Pitti before we went over the bridge and we went to the Piazza Vecchio after we left the bridge. This is where the Vecchio Palace is, there is the Marzoco Lion carved by Donnnatello and the copy of David sculpted by Michelangelo. We walked more and came to the Duomo of Florence, (Cathedral of Florence)and the Baptistry which has the Doors of Paradise and the Bell Tower. The inside of the church is so big and so beautiful, so much history if only the walls and floors could talk.
Right there in the piazza we ate pizza while taking in the sights of the huge Duomo and watching children play and people walking and talking in every language in the world. Right there where history was played out!
We walked through the open air markets of Mercato San Lorenzo. And then we had to leave to go to our hotel and we couldn't get the map to get us to our car which we had parked way to the south just outside the walls of Florence. The streets and not straight so you think you are walking a certain direction and then you look at the map and you are walking in a different direction!!! So frustrating! But we made it to our car drove the 6 miles to our beautiful rooms in an old monastery that looks like something McMenamins would make. It had a swimming pool and it was on a hillside that looked down on Florence! Breathtaking and only 70.00 euros a night including breakfast! We had a very good nights sleep and then went back into Florence after breakfast and tried to see David but it didn't work out but we did get to see the inside of the Duomo! We then drove off looking forward to Assisi!
Italy is a dream that keeps retuning for the rest of your life-Anna Akhrnatova
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